Thursday, September 12, 2013

Fear of Punishment - How much and when?

A student of R' Yaakov Kamenetsky told me that Reb Yaakov told him in on the Shabbos of Slichos in 1983 that in Lithuania they spoke about 'aymas hadin', ie fear of divine punishment, but it was preceded by YEARS of teaching Ahavas Hashem. However, today people first teach fear before anything and this is "terrible."

Reb Yaakov added that when they spoke about 'aymas hadin' it was spoken about in general as faith in the reality of reward and punishment - not that on this and this specific aveira one will suffer eternal pain.

Reb Yaakov repeated this idea numerous times over the years.

A quote from the conversation: "Before people are taught about why they should love Hashem they are taught why they should be frightened of him...I don't understand why they do that".

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